Virtual sports betting comes to social gaming platform

Updated 3:44 pm, Wednesday, September 5, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco company is partnering with social games giant Zynga to launch a new Facebook game that lets players place virtual bets on their favorite sports teams.

At launch, RocketPlay's “Sports Casino” won't offer the real-money betting that analysts believe could score huge profits for Zynga and other social game makers. But the new title, available today, is a step in that direction.

“We just saw a huge void for sports betting games,” said Matthew Cullen, president of RocketPlay, a 4-year-old company that also is changing its name from Gamingo today.

Business Channel

“Sports Casino” replicates a Las Vegas-style sports book, enabling players to place bets on the outcomes of football, baseball and other games. The game also allows proposition bets on the side, so players can wager on such things as whether “the Giants are going to hit a home run in the next inning or whether the 49ers score on the next drive,” Cullen said.

RocketPlay agreed to a partnership with Zynga to publish “Sports Casino” on the Zynga social gaming platform, making the game available on the Facebook and Zynga's website. RocketPlay has a revenue-sharing deal with Zynga, but declined to disclose details.

Social sports betting is a pivot for RocketPlay/Gamingo, also once known as Footbo. The company had developed online and mobile fantasy sports games such as “11Runs” for partners that included Hearst Newspapers, which owns the San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Houston Chronicle and other newspapers.